• Nokia, Micromax and Samsung emerge Top 3 brands; Micromax beats Samsung to the No. 2 spot during 4Q 2013
• Smartphone shipments contribute 15.3 % of total handset shipments in 4Q 2013; Samsung is market leader, followed by Huawei and E-Tel

Colombo / Gurgaon: The Sri Lanka mobile phones market recorded sales (unit shipments) of over 0.8 million units in 4Q (October-December) 2013. This was reported in the Sri Lanka Mobile Handsets Market Review, 4Q 2013, March 2014 release published today by premier IT, Telecoms, Semiconductor & Electronics, Government & Public Sector and Lifesciences market intelligence and advisory firm CyberMedia Research.

In the overall Sri Lanka mobile handsets market, Nokia emerged as the leader with a 23.8% share, followed by Micromax at second position with 21.4% and Samsung  at third position with 11.9%, in terms of sales (unit shipments) during 4Q 2013.

Commenting on the results, Faisal Kawoosa, Lead Analyst, CMR Telecoms Practice said, “The Sri Lanka market shows a strong growth in shipments of smartphones as against a decline in featurephone shipments. This is in keeping with the larger global trend and points to a maturing of consumer tastes and growing preference for a richer mobile usage experience. This is a positive sign for the long term health of the Sri Lanka Telecom Services market and is bound to lead to larger numbers of subscribers accessing the mobile internet and data services.”

Smartphones

Smartphone sales (shipments) touched 0.12 million units in Sri Lanka during 4Q 2013 and 0.45 million for CY 2013. During 4Q 2013 Samsung emerged as the leader in the smartphones segment with a 21.2% share followed by Huawei with 19.6% and E-Tel at third place with a 16.1% shipments share.

“Very few vendors in Sri Lanka have sustainable operations due to the limited size of the handsets market. A couple of vendors are struggling with their distribution and are yet to achieve significant reach and coverage. After sales services provided by some of the smaller players have been reportedly below par. Having said, that we might see some Indian handset brands enter the Sri Lanka market during 1H 2014. For these players, good after sales service and robust distribution reach will be key determinants of success,” stated Tarun Pathak, Analyst, CMR Telecoms Practice.

“Going forward, the share of entry level smartphones in the Sri Lanka market is expected to increase, along with a matching uptake in 3G and 4G data consumption. As of today there are already more LTE-based devices shipped into Sri Lanka than India. This reflects the technological advancement achieved by the island nation’s market,” Tarun concluded.